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Great white sharks safeguarded

By Marla Cone
Los Angeles Times

SAKCHAI LALIT / AP A Thai policeman patrols past an inflatable elephant Tuesday outside a Bangkok conference of 166 nations on proposed changes to the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES.

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Great white sharks, one of the world's most-feared animals, will receive protection from international trade after nations at a global summit in Thailand voted yesterday to treat them as an endangered species.

The delegates also added or strengthened restrictions on the export and import of about 20 other groups of plants and animals, including a rare dolphin, a giant reef fish popular in Asian restaurants and trees harvested in the rain forests of Indonesia and Malaysia.

Great whites are considered to be among the rarest sharks because they have a low reproductive rate. Their teeth and jaws are prized collectibles that are traded worldwide, both legally and illegally, and their fins and meat are popular in some countries.

Trade of white sharks is already prohibited in the United States, South Africa, Australia, Namibia and Malta, but after yesterday's vote, restrictions will be enforceable in 166 nations that participate in CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

CITES provides for varying levels of protection, and a proposal to ban all trade was withdrawn. Instead, the delegates voted to require exporting countries to issue permits, certify that a specimen was legally obtained and ensure that trade would not be detrimental to the species' survival.

Many nations, led by Japan, opposed the move, saying there already were other international laws regulating fishing and little scientific evidence that oceanic species such as sharks were endangered. Environmental groups welcomed the shark decision but said international protection from overfishing, which is beyond the scope of CITES, also was necessary to protect them.

All international trade in the Irrawaddy dolphin, an extremely rare species that lives in rivers in Southeast Asia and shallow, tropical ocean waters, was prohibited. The dolphins are exported within Asia for aquarium displays and shows.

From leopards and parrots to orchids and cactuses, about 5,000 animal species and 28,000 plants have been protected under CITES since it was enacted 30 years ago.

Exports of another profitable product — caviar — will be reduced after Iran, Kazakstan, Russia and two other Caspian Sea nations agreed this week to smaller quotas and a crackdown on illegal markets. Volumes of caviar from beluga, the most prized and endangered sturgeon, will be cut in half.
 
Several other proposals were approved, including one restricting trade in the reef-dwelling humphead wrasse, a fish that is harvested live and sold to luxury restaurants mostly in Hong Kong, China and Singapore.

The delegates also voted to regulate exports of ramin, a tropical hardwood tree that has been severely depleted in Southeast Asian rain forests, and agarwood, a tree also found in Southeast Asia that is harvested for its oils. Indonesia, the biggest exporter of both, wanted protection tightened to help stop illegal logging there.